Tom Ford's Cheek Color is a pretty straightforward take on powder blush in a compact, and it has a lot of good things going for it. First and foremost, it has a lovely texture that makes it easy to pick up on a brush. (It's more creamy than powdery, which means you don't have a lot of excess blush flying around.)

Cheek Color has a strong color impact, so you don't have to use a lot to get a nice healthy flush across your cheeks. It wears well throughout the day, and doesn't emphasize large pores, making it suitable for oily skin as well as for all other skin types.

Cheek Color comes in a small but well-edited selection of shades, ranging from natural pink to tawny nude to bold orange. Each shade has some degree of shimmer, but it's just enough to make skin look like it's glowing instead of glittery. Nicely done, and one of the few Ford products that may warrant a splurge (although you can get outstanding powder blushes for a lot less).

Pros:

Almost-creamy texture makes application easy.

Strong color impact; a little goes a long way!

Wears well throughout the day without emphasizing pores.

Cons:

None (except perhaps the price, because you can get excellent blushes for a fraction of the cost).

Weaknesses: An eye pencil that's overpriced for its quality; lackluster yet super-pricey foundations, including one with sunscreen that doesn't provide sufficient UVA protection; a mediocre eyelining product; an expensive and ineffective highlighting pen.

Summary: The dashing, debonair Tom Ford is one of the world's hottest fashion designers, famous and sought-after for his controversial photo shoots (featuring models showing more skin than clothes) and his classic, yet edgy, fashion designs. Ford came to prominence in the mid-1990s, when he became Creative Director at Gucci's fashion house. He is credited with bringing glamour back to fashion at a time when grunge and heroin chic looks were en vogue, and he helped take the then-failing Gucci from the brink of bankruptcy to a multi-billion-dollar brand.

A few years after Ford joined Gucci, brand was acquired by rival fashion house Yves Saint-Laurent. Ford became Creative Director there as well. Finally, in 2006, Ford launched his own fashion line of menswear, eyewear, fragrances, and accessories. Five years later, he followed in the footsteps of fellow high-fashion houses Armani and Chanel by launching his own line of color cosmetics.

Housed in sleek black packaging with "Tom Ford" stamped in prominent gold-embossed lettering, the makeup certainly looks luxurious, and the pricing is definitely in the haute couture range - the foundations cost $78! However, like many other fashion designer makeup lines, what's inside Tom Ford's range of products is largely unexceptional, especially given the expense.

Tom Ford's makeup and fragrance lines are owned by cosmetics giant Estee Lauder, so you won't be surprised when we tell you that much of what you see in the Tom Ford line isn't all that different from what other Lauder brands, such as MAC, Clinique, and Lauder's namesake line sell. What that means is you don't need to ante up for Tom Ford makeup, because most of what this line does well is available for less money from other Lauder-owned lines.

High prices aside, though, there are some winners among Tom Ford's small but well-edited makeup line. The lipstick, brow pencil, lip lacquer, and eyeshadow palettes are all high-quality and perform well. We're also pleased to say that most of the makeup products either have no or minimal fragrance, which is always a bonus - especially when you consider that this line got its start in the cosmetics field with perfumes and colognes.

Unfortunately, the foundations feature such ingredients as fragrance and lavender, which are both a problem for skin, and some of the other products, like the needs-sharpening eye pencil, are so common and ordinary that it makes the asking price a joke! Overall, Tom Ford has a handful of excellent makeup products to check out - and the counter personnel we dealt with were first-rate makeup artists – but be aware that you're not getting anything that justifies any of those products' high price tags. If anything, Tom Ford's makeup confirms what we've been saying about cosmetics for years: There are good and bad products in all price ranges, and expensive doesn't necessarily mean better!

The new Beautypedia Team proudly and unequivocally maintains the commitment to help you find the best products possible for your skin. We do this by relentlessly pursuing and relying on published scientific research so you will have unbiased information on what works and what doesn't-and the sneaky ways you could be making your skin worse, not better!

The Beautypedia Team reviews all products using the same research, criteria, and objectivity, whether the product being reviewed is from Paula's Choice or another brand.

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